PCS reviews as many as 50 events per year in the United States and Canada, monitoring them in their early stages to see whether they’re likely to become catastrophe events. We do that because it’s crucial that we designate a catastrophe as early as possible. Insurers across North America rely on PCS catastrophe serial numbers to track claims effectively, and they use the data to benchmark average claims paid, identify and deploy necessary resources, and manage loss adjustment expenses (LAE).

When we begin to monitor an event to see if it will become a catastrophe, we consider a number of factors, including whether:

it’s likely to cause at least $25 million in insured losses

it will affect a significant number of insureds

it will affect a significant number of insurers

Those criteria help us separate widespread events from those with limited reach. For example, a wildland fire event in some parts of California could cause more than $25 million in damage but affect only a handful of homes.